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Pondering whether some extra certification or credentials might help land me the next opportune gig, I perused through some of the Top 10 Marketing Departments (according to US News 2009) to see what they had to offer. Given they are the "BEST Marketing programs in the nation," you would think they would have a clue about the Internet being an important medium, if not the most efficient and most powerful marketing medium in history. However, they amaze me how little they've dedicated to their programs to teach our future Marketing leaders that the Internet IS and will highly impact their careers. I suggest they should have more classes and curricula focused on Internet, Mobile and other new Technology media and how to leverage it marketing for all businesses large and small.

Here are my criticisms of the current "Top Marketing Programs" in the United States:

What I noticed for the most part at most of the websites of the Top 10 College Marketing Programs:

Most failed to offer concentrations/focuses on e-Marketing or Internet forms of marketing. If I were a part of their decision making committee for curriculum development, I would definitely create the possibility to specialize in Online Marketing. With the advent of Mobile advertising and the entrenchment of online forms of marketing gathering a larger piece of the overall marketing pie annually, there needs to be colleges willing to risk developing programs catering to this need. (In my mind, it's not even a risk - it's here & NOW.)

On the same note, most of the offerings are stuck in the traditional forms of marketing. It does make sense to build a "general set of marketing core requirements," but to neglect this medium that has taken over the world over the past two decades is like us standing in front of an 18 wheeler coming straight at us while we stand in the middle of the (information) highway & act like it's going to just drive around us.

Marketing professors are stuck in the dark ages, probably because it took them forever to get tenure as is. They like to focus on theory, psychology and consumer behavior. It would take them a lifetime probably to learn about this "new fangled Internet stuff," and why do that when you have no risk of being fired? Again, this is all nice & should be learned by marketing students, but how about applying that to the new media?

The website has a quote on the right boasting about its programs: "How the world's largest, most published and most cited marketing department has strengthened and changed the world of business..." -- key words here are "published, cited, strengthened, changed..." Know why? It's because they all end in '-ed' -- the PAST tense! Let's focus on the present & the future!

They did succeed in being the #1 result in the SERPs for "UPenn Marketing" -- a test I applied to all the Marketing programs. I wanted to see if at least the universities had the intelligence to hire the right people to keep their programs in a "findable" place when people search for their programs.

You're allowed to concentrate in another "general" discipline like Psychology or Communication as an undergrad & also as an MBA student. However, how about letting students concentrate on Search Engine Marketing? Mobile Platform Advertising?

Out of 8 Bachelor level classes and 24 Graduate or higher level classes, not a single class focuses on the new media for Marketing.

They are the #2 result in the SERPs on Google.com, but a web development team that appears to help university departments outdoes them for the phrase "U Michigan Marketing"; the power of online marketers outdoing their traditional counterparts really peeks through here.

No online marketing emphasis options - they focus on the traditional curriculum options.

I guess the Consulting & High Tech focus would be the closest, but the way it's described, it almost seems like the Internet is something "new" that can be used in consulting vs. something that is "now." Well, it just continues to buttress the notion that it's still slowly being accepted as a larger piece of the traditional marketing pie.

The department is the #2 result in Google for "U Texas." The #1 result in the SERP is a site used by the dept.

Looking through the papers the professors have published, I only found one that related to the Internet revolution: "The Marketing Information Revolution" by Rashi Glazer, but in 1994 (uhhhh, predicting the marketing changes of today?).

The work done by the professors felt like a bunch of behavioral studies and pricing impact surveys (shouldn't this be in the Psychology department?).

Only the general "Business Admin" degree is available as undergrads. Specialties as an MBA student are still in the general disciplines.

They're successful in being #1 in the SERPs when searching for "UC berkeley Marketing".

Even though the department has a smart enough web development team or paid some smart SEO folks to help them be the #1 result when searching for "nyu marketing", there isn't a single focus in the majors that emphasizes Marketing's new media.

While it was the only program which failed to be #1 for "uva marketing," "university of virginia marketing," or "u virgina marketing," the University does have the only program I've been able to find online, which appears to be an online/internet marketing focus called Certificate in eMarketing.

The Certificate appeared to cost about $5,100 or so, but also may be discontinued. I could only find one of the classes available in the Spring. The rest of the requirements didn't seem to be available, s I'm not sure about the active status of the program.

Also, it had a seminar that seemed to help executives who manage the online marketing initiatives of their companies. It was called "Online Marketing Update @ Darden." There may have been other similar seminars at other universities, but none came up on the immediate radar.

While the Marketing department still rates #9 in US News' ranking, you can't even find it, so I'm not sure their own staff know the details of the eMarketing program. There will be many confused people outside the state who won't even be able to find the program, which I think I found here. Perhaps they're testing their future students' dexterity and their ability to be persistent & diligent in finding info (like me?).

Very similar to many of the the previous 9 Marketing programs, undergraduates must study the discipline in general. If you do go for the MBA, you can concentrate in marketing research or in product management. Students can also earn an MBA degree in supply chain management.

The Business School does come up #1for the search "U of Wisconsin Madison marketing," though the Marketing department has a relatively weak presence.

No wonder some of the best SEO experts and Online Marketing gurus have little or no college education dedicated to their discipline -- a lot of this was learned on their own (even empirical evidence points to this little-known fact).

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Comments
26

I recently decided after years in the real world to to add a degree in marketing to my resume. I looked at a number of schools around the country including a couple of those Realicity mentioned like Fullsail which has a great reputation and a number of their graduates are people I have met and respect. They are well trained and sucessful in their industries (although not SEO). Take a look at Fullsail's curriculum, upcoming class schedule, faculty qualifications, and ongoing inability to fill their own search optimization position for the Fullsail site before commiting $50K+ to the program.

I ended up at FIU (Florida International University), not due to their great program in online marketing by any stretch. I admit that since I could not find any program that I thought was as valuable as peer interaction and the school of hard knocks I opted for in state tuition and a completely on-line Business Marketing program. Hopefully as I move through the program and jump through the hoops they will add some meat to their program re online marketing. At this point they offer only 1. Sample Syllabus follows:

eMarketing 2006 is designed to quickly transition the student past the theoretical and onto the practical elements involved in marketing online. “In class” discussions evolve into online assignments that have been developed to test the student's ability to apply what has been learned.

As a result of the active learning process, students completing this course will be able to plan, execute and manage the basic elements of an online success cycle. Specific competencies will include identification of unique selling propositions (USP), development of winning business models for online enterprises, segmentation of target audiences, driving online traffic via numerous means (i.e. search engines, affiliate programs, interactive ads, email, etc.), conversion of online traffic into paying customers via best practice eCommerce website design & monetization techniques as well as retention of customers once acquired.

Not much of an offering to learn about e-marketing, but I guess you have to start somewhere.

Sounds all good to me, if your universities are sending out poorly qualified or lacking in marketing skills bod then it keeps the rest of us ahead of the pack.... without having to go back to University (been there done that, hated every minute of it)

Working in a search marketing department for Online Higher Education (for some of the aforementioned schools) I know all too well the reason for this... They won't let us market them properly! It takes months of approvals and rewrites and top down decisions to publish even the smallest of press releases or landing pages. Even SEO 101 on page optimization is pushed against and needs the school's (and their picky board members) approval. I think, no I KNOW, this is why private for profits are getting ahead in their online presence...

This is also why social media is almost impossible to participate in unless initiated by an alum or student. It's downright frustrating and in the end the reason for what the article has found...

This tells me or at least makes me think that maybe someday there may be a leading higher education institution that is purely online. It will possibly help educate our future generations more than the tenured, slow moving academics that currently run our higher institutions.

"They like to focus on theory, psychology and consumer behavior."While I have a lot I would like to say, I will keep it brief. I am currently attending college and I have learned that professors teach you broad concepts and how to think, they dont specialize in one small field. It is up to you to take these marketing principles that they are teaching and apply them to the internet or whatever field you would like to. I would like to add that I also wish they would focus more on internet marketing, but as your research suggests, colleges mainly focus on the principles.

Excellent topic. I think that because SEO is relatively new - compared to other marketing forms - most of the professionals are in the industry and not teaching it. I believe online marketing will continue to evolve with more attention - like this post. My brother goes to the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and he said that in one of his business classes, they actually do get into this stuff. I graduated from there with a degree in journalism and we never touched anything like SEO or PPC. It's funny because when you get out in the real world,, every competitive business needs it.

You think its tough cracking the marketing department of a 30 year old business...some of these schools have been around for 200 years and have been branding and marketing themselves the same way for all 200.

I guess it is some what ironic for an instituion of teaching to not learn this effective means of exposure.

I did a multimedia degree in 1999 and returned to university two years ago to do the newly introduced Internet Marketing subject. And what a detachment from practical reality that was... I feel sorry for all those people who leave with all the knowledge of how to write a good assignment and do their APA citations to perfection but not help a company increase sales or traffic. What a waste

I see a ton of ads for Fullsail and Rasmussen for internet marketing degrees. They do pretty well internet exposure wise. I also know very good SEO at Globe University in Minnesota who is leading some pretty deep SEO & PPC campaigns. These 3 maybe smaller institutions as far as scale goes, but that might be where the SEO talent for Universities may be found.

Here is a suggestion for you. Now that you've done your own "market" research on the marketing programs available at top universities and come to the conclusion that they are inadequate when it comes to search marketing, why don't you offer to teach a course? Being a university professor will give your resume far more credibility than obtaining a degree. Furthermore, you will find it much more beneficial financially.

The shortcoming of many search marketing "experts" is that they don't quite grasp business fundamentals. Rather than making blanket statements such as this "No wonder some of the best SEO experts and Online Marketing gurus have little or no college education dedicated to their discipline -- a lot of this was learned on their own", you should have realized that you've discovered a market opportunity.

Alec

p.s. The article you cite in the second paragraph actually comes from Wharton not Kellogg/Northwestern.

I am trying to imagine someone without any formal qualifications trying to get a university to take them seriuoslly when they say

"I'm an SEO expert, and I noticed that your program is outdated and needs some up to the minute internet based marketing courses...make me a professor and I'll come and do that for you"

There are lots of SEO & SEM courses out there, but the point that I believe the poster is making is that the large, reputable marketing courses haven't yet accepted online marketing as a valid and valued part of a marketing education, I'd love to hear more about where you think the business opportunity is in that.

I would also argue with the idea that "a lot of marketing professionals don't grasp business fundamentals", Not only do a lot of marketing professionals have backgrounds in other industries, have previous (and existing) successful carreers as business professionals, and in many cases run their own business, but a good marketing strategist has to understand how business works, right through from pricing to delivery if they are going to deliver comprehensive profitable marketing plans. I would go as far to say that in many cases the marketing specialist has to know more about a business than any other specialism, as every area will impact on marketing success.

I would suggest that rather than marketing professionals not understanding business fundamentals, perhaps you don't fully understand the role of a marketing professional

My argument wasn't a blanket 100% characterization of all search marketing professionals. There are many who do grasp business fundamentals. Those that don't can either be offended by my statement and react by attacking what I said or take it to heart and understand that disciplines such as SEO won't go mainstream until the people in the business have the ability to speak corporate lingo.

The main point of my argument, which was apparently missed, is that if you already consider yourself a search marketing expert, why do you need to go back to school for a degree in this subject? There is no point. Get a degree in a different discipline and round out your skill set.

<I am trying to imagine someone without any formal qualifications trying to get a university to take them seriously> Do you think Richard Branson would be laughed at if he approached the Wharton School about teaching a course on entrepreneurism?

I would argue thbat SEO is mainstream, it is used by a vast number of businesses, employing both in house specialists and agencies. To my mind that is the issue, that eductaional establishments are missing out on something that is already here, not a future development.

As for why someone who was already an expert would look to do a degree in the subject...Well for someone looking to diferentiate themselves in the market place, a degree in a broader marketing discipline, with online content, would be very reassuring for clients, and would be a way for less online savvy people to determine if you are genuinely educated in the subject. It may also be an opportunbity to put your existing knowleddge into a different context, and formal learning can encourage you to think about things in ways that perhaps you hadn't done before. I have often fdone more formalised courses in things after I have already known much of the course content, because it offers the opportunity to re-enforce existing knowledge, get you thinking about things you have forgotten, and interact with others who see things differently from you. I have a friend who often takes courses in the very subject she teaches, because often a different teacher still has the ability to show her something she had never thought of or come across before.

Finally I am sure that if RB approached a university to teach they would not turn him away, buit then again there are no online martketing professionals who are that well known outside of the industry. That makes a huge difference.

At the same time, remember that this is an industry that is rapidly changing, leaden with equal quantities of "myth", "bad paractice" (black hat etc) and actual "white hat" seo.

The amount of misinformation about SEO already on the internet probably out-weighs the amount of quality information provided by sites such as this.

If you were to teach a degree on the subject, how would you structure it? What would you teach? How would you test students on it? Who would take the numerous classes involved?

There is a lot to consider. Having worked with universities for a long time, I know first hand that nothing happens quickly with these institutions and it can take many years for courses to be developed and implemented.

Good post, but I don't think it is quite as simple and clear cut an issue as perhaps people seem to think.

Full marks to Full Sail for being one of the few to try and keep pace with developing technology education, however, the reason much of what they offer on their degrees would probably seem "old news" to many posters here is probably because a lot of the more "advanced" SEO skills are hard to teach and the best way to develop them is probably through mentoring by a more experienced SEO. Hard to do with a class of 30 or so (at the low end) and a budget that can only stretch so far in terms of paying for staff.

I agree Andrew that there is quite a bit of "development" going on in the SEO business and that simply creating an entire program based off SEO would probably be fruitless. However, with the advent of the Internet, I believe we are truly marketing to people in different ways: Search Marketing, Social Media and the like. With the advent of smaller and smaller devices and mobile phones literally taking over the world as the main communication device (or one of the main ones), we will be marketing to people -- SORRY, we ARE CURRENTLY marketing to people in different ways than the past. TV Marketing, Radio Marketing and now with Newspaper companies basically going out of business because of the Internet, Marketing is "smarter" if I can call it that. I think we need to adjust to the "intelligence paradigm shift" or rather the "information overload shift" or the many other things that possibly may be affecting the "behavioral patterns of consumers." However, I couldn't even find much literature out there that talks about consumer patterns or the like related to the Internet.

While I still realize that the Internet truly doesn't represent the larger part of the huge marketing pie, we are able to give it more credence as a legitimate presence in today's marketplace. I think Marketing Directors and CMO's should understand it. It's possibly why there is a more offline focus at many companies while the ones who do realize it end up having more efficiences. Then again, I guess the companies that will be standing after all this economic mess is hopefully back into a better position, we may see who the marketing leaders are and maybe their bosses (the CEO's, CFO's, etc. of the world) will recognize the ones that did it efficiently & I'm going to believe they will have a larger mix of online marketing driving their success.

Anyway, like I just commented, but I guess this will take time. Then again, sometimes I wish Academia would take a little more risk instead of resting on tenure and other outdated forms of education. Maybe what needs to be overhauled moreso than just Marketing programs is Education in general? :)

I agree with you, there is a lack of information on this subject that is presented in a clearly structured, staged manner in order to enable people to fully understand and develop knowledge and skills in the area. This is probably a large cause of the amount of bad practice and "myth" that exists in the industry and also what leads to the negative view of outsiders towards SEO.

However, part of me wonders if this lack of a concise and structured "encylopedia" of SEO and online marketing is due to the fact that many large corporations still aren't even sure of the most effective way to go about internet marketing.

Internet marketing spend (in the UK at least) is now only 3% less than the total spending on print media and television marketing, and it shows in the continued growth in online sales while traditional high street sales figures continue to decline.

Therefore I fully agree with you that marketing lecturers and professors need to begin to teach students of the value of internet marketing. However, I just think it would take a great deal of thought and effort to be able to create a program that would effectively explain the industry and practices involved in successful internet marketing.

I'll definitely agree that some SEO'ers also suffer from a lack of fundamentals as well. I'm not arguing against all the years of knowledge and academia on the subject, but I'm just arguing for acceptance and a bit more focus on a medium that honestly is revolutionizing the business world.

I'm sure in 50 years, my point will be moot and to be frank, I'm actually glad a lot of people don't understand or appreciate it as much as I do. It gives me job security! ^^

Thank you for your comment though. I respect what you have to say & thanks for the correction on the programs. After spending the time researching it, I didn't have time to proofread it a number of times. I wish I didn't have just my full time job of managing 90+ people, working on several "building websites", trying to do some articles here and there on top of oh yah...the family. ;)

Online Marketing is a new and evolving field, and finding qualified degreed professionals to teach it is a real obstacle to the implementation of a proper curriculum for higher education. Most of the top people in our industry wouldn't consider accepting a job at the standard faculty rates, and not all of them have the initials required to get the job anyway. Academia is relentless on their requirements for degree qualifications with many requiring a Masters Degree in the field as the minimum for even an entry level position.

I understand the emphasis that Universities and big Corporations put on formal degrees in their hiring. My wife has more initials than a government agency and runs a college division with dozens of highly educated faculty reporting to her. My brother has written more scientific papers that Tom Clancy has novels, and their is rarely a conversation in this house that doesn't involve education. It is the fact that having the proper academic credentials is so important in overcoming this hurdle that sent to search out accredited institutions that offer a degree that includes SEO and other areas unique to internet marketing. I understand the need for all the core marketing courses, but I certainly wish there were more QUALITY courses offered in online marketing. The emergence of even a minor in online marketing will do a lot to help legitimize our industry.

I not Richard Branson, but I do have considerable business experience including broadcast, web design, and online marketing all at the management level. I like the stimulation of new challenges and the rapid pace of the development of SEO keeps me excited. My years in these fields have given me the rare opportunity to work with businesses in many industries and to learn an incredible amount about successful business operation (and about how much I still have to learn).

Get used to your never having the time you wish you had, I already have the T-Shirt. I put in 50 plus hours at the office, took 15 credits last semester (3.6 GPA) have 4 kids, a grand-daughter, and a list of honey do's that has no end. Just keep swimming.

Personally I feel very competent in my abilities, but I am not so naive as to think that I can stop seeking out new sources of knowledge, new mentors, new ideas, or that I can't benefit from a great discussion and being called out when I am wrong. Ninety percent of my SEO knowledge comes from doing. All the theory in the world isn't much good until you can put it into practice and that is what I try to do every day.

Frankly, I'd love to teach a course, but one of the bigger reasons why I wrote the article was to express the notion that I needed the "education." I did mention that I would like more respect by having the credentials, but frankly, I'd like to "learn more" about the field even though I feel like I have a good understanding of many of the principles of online marketing including seo, ppc & social media marketing. You're right that online marketing experts or SEO consultants who do quite well in the field are sometimes lacking a lot of business fundamentals. However, it would never hurt to have more components dedicated to the online marketing as it grows & there's literally approximately 17 years of history for those professors to address a lot of what's going on & there is definitely no shortage of information out there to lecture on. I was mainly pointing out they lack at least a decent component to these "top marketing programs" when online or future forms of marketing will eventually outgrow the traditional marketing that most professors who are tenured only understand.

Moreover, traditional education fails to teach "real world" principles mainly because the professors are outdated and their administrators are possibly even more outdated and very focused on meeting rules and trying to keep order. Yet, many students still MUST get their MBA's from top programs in order to garner the respect of recruiters and very high paying companies because that's simply what works in traditional hiring. It continues to buttress an ongoing cycle where many businesses which operate off the "old boys' club" are filled to the gills with "Top Marketing Program degreed" managers, but fail to understand what Online marketing can do for them. Then again, I guess it's not a bad thing for us because we'll just continue to take advantage of these untapped opportunities.

I do agree wholeheartedly that teaching any subject is more often than not better than even learning it from someone or some program. However, I highly doubt a guy with a bachelors degree would get the chance to lecture at the top 10 MBA/Marketing programs without having further education (i.e., a Masters) or another 10+ years of experience in SEO or online marketing. If I'm wrong, tell me where I should sign up! :)

Regardless, I appreciate the feedback.

p.s. look out for a V2 of this article as I see if things have changed in 2 years in the Academic world. I've seen a couple "SEO Certificate programs" by the University of Washington and UC Irvine. Also, I do want to apologize to all out there who did read my article. I did "research", but it can always be "more" than less. I spent hours, but frankly, the topic may deserve even more than that. As a result, you're right aleccamp that the 2nd paragraph does come from Wharton - my bad. I'm surprised I didn't make more mistakes. Thanks for reading regardless.

I see I did reply to you before Alec, but didn't answer the question you posed before.

Basically, I would love to teach at any of these programs. If the compensation was reasonable, I would be very happy to share all my knowledge spanning from DoubleClick to Amazon, then Expedia and then my own first through 3 businesses (Real Estate and Teaching English in Asia).

The problem is that I don't have the credentials in terms of Academia. My background wasn't in Marketing despite having graduated with a concentration in Business with my undergraduate degree. I also didn't graduate from a Top 25 school which makes it that much harder to secure teaching positions there.

However, with the advent of Coursera and other mediums, maybe I will some day be able to share my knowledge. Honestly, I've contemplated writing a book or more on the subject and I just might.

I do plan on taking another stab at this here this month. I'm curious if the Marketing programs have "wisened up?"